Tetragnatha exilima ( Mello-Leitão, 1943 )

Castanheira, Pedro De Souza & Baptista, Renner Luiz Cerqueira, 2020, Notes on slender species of the long-jawed spider genus Tetragnatha (Araneae Tetragnathidae) with description of three new species, Zootaxa 4768 (1), pp. 43-75 : 71

Tetragnatha exilima ( Mello-Leitão, 1943) nomen dubium

( Figs 16A, B )

Cyrtognatha exilima Mello-Leitão, 1943: 176 (Holotype female immature from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Pe. B. Rambo coll., deposited in MNRJ 41757, poorly preserved, left chelicerae dissected and genital area previously dissected but lost, examined).

Cyrtognatha exilima Brignoli, 1983: 221 (lapsus).

Tetragnatha exilima Dimitrov & Hormiga, 2009: 100 , fig. 65A–E.

Notes. Mello-Leitão (1943) described this species under the genus Cyrtognatha Keyserling, 1881 and did not present any illustrations of the specimen he described. Dimitrov & Hormiga (2009) redescribed this species, giving modern illustrations and ascribed it to Tetragnatha . However, its chelicerae apparently belong to an immature specimen ( Fig. 16A ) and the vulva illustrated by Dimitrov & Hormiga 2009 (fig. 65A) does not seem to belong to a fully grown female. This specimen is small and with a pretty small, undeveloped chelicera bearing only a few teeth at both rows, all characters compatible with a juvenile spider. The spermathecae and central sac are very small and seem not completely developed, suggesting a subadult female. Besides, we examined hundreds of Tetragnatha specimens from all over Rio Grande do Sul and nearby localities and have not found any other compatible adult specimen. Summing up, we are not able to identify this species and consider it a nomen dubium.

Figures

FIGURE 16. Nomina dubia: A, T. exilima female holotype, habitus lateral view (detail, left chelicera inner view). B, T. exilima holotype label. C, T. filigastra male holotype, carapace lateral view. D, T. filigastra holotype label. E, T. lactescens holotype female, habitus lateral view. F, T. lactescens holotype label.